Penny's physical conditions mean that she's a bit more restricted in what behaviours she can do and what is ethical to train.
Most of Penny's training is co-operative care and spending time together giving her scratches or going for little walks.
But there's always opportunities to get creative with positive reinforcement and train something fun and enriching.
Body Targeting with Izzy.
This is helpful for body awareness and thinking, as well as working specific muscle groups in isolation.
#positivereinforcement #equinebehaviour #equinebehaviouraltherapy #horsetraining #bitless #barefoothorse #bridleless #liberty #tackless #horsebehsviourist #targetsticksnotwhips #forcefree #behaviouralscience #psycology #enrichment #vegan #veganequestrian #cornwall #wildhorse
Solving problems with resource guarding, "pushy" behaviour or food aggression within the herd using positive reinforcement.
See text on screen for more information on the behaviours shown in the video.
The key to solving this lies within the horse's management and lifestyle as a whole, but there's also plenty of ways to work on it using positive reinforcement training!
If this is something you and your horse would like help with, please don't hesitate to get in touch - I offer Holistic Equine Behavioural Therapy and Training.
🖤
Co-operative Care Training For Hoof Rasping With Penny 🖤.
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Penny has a lot of trauma with having her hooves picked up and trimmed due to a now treated underlying health condition.
Force-free R+ training has been great for rebuilding this behaviour in a positive way where she can choose to participate. 😊🖤
Case study pony, Grace, is learning cooperative care behaviours to make having her hooves done easier and more fun.
Her amazing people at @hayecornwall are doing such a good job and it's a pleasure to come and work with Grace.
Big step for case study pony, May, today! (@hayecornwall) .
Not only is May a feral rescue pony, but she's also around 30 years old. For the majority of that time, she had no interactions with people apart from being rounded up and hot brandad. This ofcourse ment that she was extremely scared of people.
May's amazing owners @hayecornwall have done an excellent job with her. At first, it was a massive deal for her to be standing next to a human, let alone except touch.
Whilst having a head-collar put on might be a basic procedure for lots of ponies, I can't even explain how brave it was for May to accept this.
When I first saw her, I couldn't even stand up next to her (I had to croach down to make her feel safer). Now, here she is.
More video clips to come of the preparation I did with her for this.
Izzy enjoying the break from the rainy weather ☔🖤.
Feral Rescue Pony Tomsk (@hillponyresources) learning about touch and picking up his feet. 🖤🥰
This is Grace and her wonderful owner Kate. I am lucky enough to have them as a behaviour and training case study.
In today's session, previously feral pony Grace learned to put her hoof up on a block. This is our foundation for teaching cooperation hoof care so that she can have her hooves looked after with no stress.
Kate is doing a great job and Grace is such an amazing pony!
@hayecornwall
Adventures of a very soggy pony 🖤
Enrichment doesn't necessarily need to be expensive, time consuming or even very creative.
Enrichment decreases stress and increases learning and the positive emotions associated with the SEEKING system.
As the days get shorter and the weather is turning, I find "easy" enrichment really helpful.
This could include a simple food scatter that takes a matter of seconds, treats under cones, novel objects for them to explore, hay balls, treat balls, pedestals, licky mats, hanging toys, food rolled up on a mat, food wrapped up in a blanket, and much more.
🖤Izzy🖤 - The archway was the focus of this session (aswell as other behaviours such as stay, stand together, head down, back up, ear target, hip target, lift hooves, etc).
Today was our first time adding a pole under the archway. At the moment, we're working separately on her pedestal and bending pole behaviour. If she's happy to, we'll eventually combine them all.
~ Helping Prevent A Fear Response ~
By recognising the signs of stress and tension early (eg, in their body language and the way they respond to familiar cues) we can de-escalate the situation to help our horses stay happy, calm and connected to us.
We can prevent flooding or trauma and help the horse deal with potentially "scary" situations in future.
It's important not to just keep rewarding the horse for only moving towards the scary thing because this can cause behavioural inhibition, masking of fear in order to gain rewards, trigger stacking or the horse pushing themselves over threshold in an effort to get closer.
In this example, you can see how Izzy and I dealt with these unexpected cows on our walk and prevented any worry or uncertainty from escalating into a fear response.
Working with beautiful Amber from Hill Pony Resources
👥 Stimulus Overshadowing 👥 Read Below👇
How can it help to work on something ↪️indirectly↩️ ❓
🎥 This video shows an example of case study pony Tomsk working on 🫱touch acceptance🫲.
🐎 Being a feral pony and then not learning about handling and maybe not having his thoughts and concerns listened to can lead to some defensive body language and uncomfortable emotions.
🥣 Mix this with some food anxiety and a super quick, clever, active mind and we have a recipe for...
💥Emotional Conflict💥
Which leads too...
💢Some Uncomfortable Looking Body Language 💢
💗 Tomsk's people have done a BRILLIANT job with him and he's coming on in leaps and bounds 💗.
In this session, I wanted to work on making sure I wasn't causing emotional conflict if he...
😣 Really Wanted To Take Part 😣
But Was..
😨 Scared About Touch 😨
And Also...
🥱 Bored Of Drilling One Thing 🥱
Therefore, we introduced a novel, more salient stimulus and made that the...
🔍 Focus Of The Session 🔎
Whilst touching down his body...
🤷♀️"Just Happened To Be Something I Was Fading In At The Same Time"🤷♀️
But...keeping it really under-threshold so that it remained the less salient stimulus and he therefore began habituating to it whilst focusing on something else entirely.
🥹 What a clever boy! 🥹
👏 And massive well done to his people who have done such a good job bringing him so far with his confidence and skills!👏
Hill Pony Resources
🤔 Why doesn't good training always look exciting❓
There are many reasons, including:
1️⃣ Prioritising the horse's mental and emotional state. This is often invisible or very subtle. 🧠
2️⃣ Attention to detail. Great trainers will fine tune tiny details that may go unnoticed to the untrained eye. 🔍
3️⃣ Avoiding over-arousal and frustration. All too often with "liberty" training we see frustrated horses with "angry" expressions performing these high energy behaviours. A good trainer will work to avoid this. 💢
4️⃣ Covering all bases. Creating a strong foundation can take time but it can make behaviours more robust in future. By not skipping steps, you prevent a "fragile" behaviour from breaking down under different circumstances. 💪
5️⃣ Doing "nothing" IS an important behaviour to reinforce. If we put too much weight in "doing" behaviours, it will be hard to get good stimulus control and you may end up with a horse who constantly throws behaviours at you in hope of earning a reward. 🛏️
6️⃣ Taking the necessary time. We all know the saying "If you act like you have 5 minutes, it will take you all day. If you act like you have all day, it will take 5 minutes". I love this concept and it holds so much value, but it's important to remember that sometimes training can be a slow process. ⌚
🖤 These are all things that I sometimes have to remind myself of. 🖤.
#horsebehaviourist #freeriding #bitless #bitlessriding #tackless #tacklessriding #bareback #bridleless #bridlelessriding #liberty #libertyriding #libertyplay #libertywork #libertytraininghorses #positivereinforcement #positivereinforcementforhorses #clickertraininghorses #barefoothorse #horsemanship #libertyhorsemanship #freedomtothehorse #targetsticksnotwhips #vegan #horsebehaviour #wildpony #cobsofinstagram #cob #cornwall #cornish #clickertraining
🐴Based on ethologist Andrew Frazier's needs of the horse, in order for a horse feel safe, avoid unwanted behaviours and maximise welfare, they need:
1️⃣ Freedom to move 💃
Try to set up an environment where the horse can carry out autonomous movement.
2️⃣ Equine company 🤝
If possible, a horse should spend the majority of their time in a stable herd with familiar horses.
3️⃣ Access to food and drink 🧉
Ad-lib forage would be ideal and there must be enough sources of water and food to prevent resource guarding in the herd.
4️⃣ Rest and sleep 🛌
A horse’s sleep patterns can be disrupted by a change in environment or routine, or a stressor in the horse’s life.
5️⃣ Body care 💆
This means they should atleast have the option to roll and mutual groom. It would be ideal to set up different textures for them to scratch on, and this is also great enrichment.
6️⃣ Space 🌌
Horses are generally more relaxed with more space. However, if space is limited or the horse needs more movement or a specific diet then a track system/paddock paradise could be used.
7️⃣ Play 🎭
Healthy play with herd mates is an important way that horses will get social interaction, exercise, imitate fight/flight and begin learning behaviours and social cues. It is important to note that excessive play could indicate stress, and a horse should always have the option to opt in or out of play.
8️⃣ The ability to explore 🥾
This is enriching and builds confidence. Horses are more relaxed when they are familiar with what's around them.
🖤Choice-Based, Positive Reinforcement For Riding🖤.
I no longer ride Penny. Although she's now retired for physical reasons, I stopped riding her before that because my perspective, goals, ethics and priorities have changed a lot since these videos were taken.
However, I wanted to show these videos of examples of what can be achieved fairly easily when we empower the horse with a voice and develop communication and a strong foundation of training.
If someone is going to ride their horse, the question becomes, how can we do this safely and in a way that is ethical? Where the horse has a voice and a choice? How can we do this in a way that is fun, enjoyable and LIMA (least intrusive, minimally aversive) for both the horse and person?
This is something I've been lucky enough to work with case study clients on.
The answer, for me, is shown in these older videos of Penny and I when we were still riding.
